Page 14 of All In Good Time

She left him alone for a moment, put his mug away, and going to the closet where the spare blankets and pillows were.

When she came back, Derek was lying back on the couch with his maroon shirt unbuttoned to reveal his whole smooth chest, even more so than what had been exposed before.

“Come on,” she said, and his head raised—taking in her arms filled with an assortment of blankets.

“Where?”

“Your bedroom for the night.” She turned off the television and headed up the stairs. There was a groan as he shifted on the couch, and then the shuffling of him moving after her up the steps.

Down the hall and to the left, she opened the door to the empty room across the hallway from her own. It had a couple pillows on the bed, matching the floral quilt, but if Derek was anything like her, it wouldn’t be enough, so she dropped the pile she’d brought with her onto the mattress and stepped aside.

He took in the area, still not fully sober, but not totally out of it.

“I don’t have any clothes that would fit you, unfortunately, but there’s a bathroom right there.” She pointed at the room at the end of the hall, right between theirs. “You can wash up. Everything is in there, but if there’s anything else you need, just let me know. I’ll be in there.” She pointed at her room.

A curious glint lit up his eyes as he stared at the bare outside of her door, but he didn’t say anything.

There was nothing else to say. He obviously didn’t want to talk much and that was okay. It was better he was here and quiet rather than somewhere he might get hurt. She wouldn’t wish that on anyone.

“Okay.” She backed away, toward her room. “Goodnight then.”

“Is no one else here?” He asked.

He must have noticed that in any other circumstance, a concerned parent would wonder why their daughter was walking in with a random boy. But that wasn’t the case in this household.

“It’s only my mom and I and she’s gone for a couple weeks. My dad’s not around anymore.” Understatement of the century, which he was free to interpret as he liked. She didn’t even care if people assumed her dad was dead, it made her feel less abandoned to think that too.

“It must be nice to have this place to yourself.”

She looked around the hallway, at the wood doors and the pictures that filled the place. Only a few of them were of her and her mom. “I don’t know.” She faced him and shrugged. “It’s kind of nice having someone around.”

They separated after that, and she closed her bedroom door softly behind her. She followed her normal nightly routine and sat in bed reading the book she had grabbed earlier that week at some small shop. But she meant what she’d said to Derek.

For so long, she had gone to bed in that house with just the sound of her own breathing, but now there was the sound of a door opening, and then another one closing. The hush of a shower turning on and running.

These sounds, while simple and insignificant to others, were more comforting to her than anything else. It used to sound like this before her mom started her job, and she missed those days. The words of her story were lost on her as she wished, a little selfishly, that this wouldn’t be the last time Derek Stokes needed something from her.

6

September 1985 | After

“Beck, this is going to end up taking hours if we take one more wrong turn. I would rather turn around now than go to Madison anyway.” Marty said, groaning as Becca adjusted the map in her hands to see it better.

“Not an option anymore, sorry.”

“He’s notmyfriend. I don’t know why I’m being dragged into whatever trouble he’s gotten into.”

“He hasn’t gotten into anything. Okay? It’smyfault he’s there.” They were both exhausted and cranky from the first half of their journey, but she wasn’t going to let even Marty Parr talk bad about Derek. Not when he had no idea what was going on.

“Then I should be thanking you that I haven’t had to deal with him in class.”

“Marty.” Becca sighed, running her hands over her face.

He let go of the wheel and raised his hands defensively. “Okay, sorry. But a little explanation is needed now.”

A numb sickness rose in the back of her throat, the truth bubbling there but unsure of whether it was okay to reveal or not. Maybe this was the least she owed him—but was it fair to Derek? “Derek, he…he has a difficult home life. I tried to get someone to help, but he freaked out and ran. His dad is not a good guy, and I’m scared I made things worse.”

Marty was quiet, but his dark fingers threaded up into his hair as he took a deep sigh. “That’s heavy.” He shook his head, and she knew that she’d made the situation clear enough for him to realize the gravity. “Why didn’t you tell me before?”

---